All Forum Posts by: Courtney Duong

Yup, not worth it at all. Yesterday we had a tenant rep broker reached out to us saying he has a potential tenant (franchise, pastry type of store) who expresses interest in our space but after checking our exclusive agreement with one of our tenants it will violate that agreement so had to turn them down.

@Ronald Rohde This is their startup but she has been working in other parlors.  I was thinking of hiring Jerel to handle this if we decided to lease to this couple.  But then right on that day there was a post on NextDoor about those massage parlors and exactly like Jerel said most of them are not legit so we decided to skip.  We rather have a vacancy then be part of something like this if they turn out to be not legit.  Our current tenants are good businesses who are doing good even during this covid-19 so we intend to keep it that way.

When I was in CT once in a while we would have a massage therapist came into the office and for a day and I used to get one here and there whenever I was so stressed out.  Real, legit massage parlors are good.  My dilemma is, I have no way of knowing for sure if this one will be a legit one or not.  Been looking at complaints report for that area and it seems most of them are bad.

@Jerel Ehlert  Thanks so much for chiming in.  Are you commercial or residential or both?

First problem: Asian Massage Parlors.  I was thinking exactly the same.  Each time I look in the news and there is a prostitution ring got busted chances are it's in a Foot reflexology owns by Asian.  I am Asian too and always feel so ashame.

Second problem: pre-paying rent. You won't have a reason to evict due to 'non-payment of rent' during the period that they pre-pay.  But I thought after that if they don't pay you can still evict for non-payment of rent if they don't pay?

Leasing to an attorney:  I hear you.  I don't have any problems with leasing/doing to/with attorneys.  We just signed a lease with an attorney in June and he is super nice.  Just that I like transactional attorneys more and this guy is a litigation attorney and apparently he is good at what he is doing.  That makes me extra careful  :).

I am going to meet him this weekend and will tell him straight that our strip is a good, clean, family oriented center and we intend to keep it that way.  So no prostitution or any illegal activities are allowed.  If they are still interested then we will talk more, if not, so be it.  I rather leave the unit vacant than rent to those.

Thanks again for your advice/input.  I really appreciate it!

@Greg Dickerson Thanks Greg. Per your advice we will hire a commercial real estate attorney specializes in retails to draft the lease for us.  But I think we will do the lease negotiation ourselves on some basic things such as:  lease term, deposit, TI, free rent.  Really appreciate your input.  Thanks and have a great day!

Hi BP,

We manage a commercial retail outside of Houston and since right before Covid-19 until now there is this couple (looks like a boyfriend and girl friend) has been expressing interest in leasing 1 of our units for a Thai massage.  At first we turned them down because we were in the middle of negotiating with another potential tenant (Mexican restaurant) for the same unit.  Then Covid-19 hit and that potential restaurant tenant has been on a hold and wait mode and still not signing anything with us yet.  Now this Thai massage couple (the guy is a well-known litigation lawyer specializes in employment law who will be a silent partner) reaches out to us again saying they are still very interested in leasing our space.  They don't have any problems with our rent rate, and now even offer to pay '6 months rent in advance upon completion of  build out'.  

My questions are:

1.  I know on residential side we have rules around accepting rent in advance that make things a little more tricky.  But this is commercial and we are still new so I am not sure if the same rules apply in term of accepting rent in advance?  Or since everything is negotiable in commercial and if tenant offers we can accept it without any issues?

2.  Like I said, he is a well-know litigation employment lawyer.  Any of you guys see any potential issues in leasing out to a lawyer? (even though he said he is going to be a 'silent partner' but so far he has been the only one who communicates with us).

Thanks in advance for any advices/feedbacks.

@Jamison Conti thanks so much for the tip.  Really appreciate it!

@Daniel Chang I know this is an old post.  But were you able to find what you were looking for? Thanks.

@Tigran Kalaydzhyan did you do your RE class/training online?  If yes, do you mind sharing what did you use.  Thanks.

@Eric James just to give you an idea.  We just bought a house at 232k and leasing it for $1850.  Have another one under contract at 240k and will be leasing it out for $2000.  I think it will be hard to lease $2500 for a 250k house around here.